It seems that spring fishing is running late this year.  

Sometimes being late is good. For instance, if you and your wife are trying to conceive a baby and she tells you she is late, that could be a good thing. On the other hand, if you and your girlfriend are misbehaving behind your wife’s back and the girlfriend says she is late, well, that is not a good thing.

The fact that fishing is running late this spring is not a good thing. I believe we can blame this on the weather. Why not? We blame almost everything else on that.

The cool start to spring has kept the water temperature in Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean below what is considered normal for May. As of Memorial Day, it was 57.9 degrees at the Delaware Lightship Buoy and the exact same at Lewes. I believe the last time we saw the sun, Jimmy Carter was president. 

Believe it or not, this weather pattern is caused by global warming. Yeah, I know, I had a hard time believing it myself, but the global-warming expert from NOAA explained it all to us up in Falmouth, Mass., when I was there for a week of learning about various things NOAA does. It seems global warming has upset the various currents, like the Gulf Stream and the Humboldt, and this in turn has upset the weather patterns. Anyway, it looks like once we get past this holiday weekend, the weather will become more springlike for a good run, and perhaps the fishing will follow suit.

So far it has been a spring of cold water and big fish. Black drum, bluefish and striped bass have made some anglers very happy.

Big striped bass have been caught from Augustine Beach to Fenwick Island. Some were caught by anglers targeting them and others were a surprise caught by black drum fishermen soaking sand fleas from Broadkill Beach to Fenwick Island. I would say this has been one of, if not the best, years for big stripers in a very long time.

The died-in-the-wool, old-line jetty jockeys got in their licks as well. They used bucktails and plugs to catch and release big striped bass from Indian River Inlet early in the morning or at night. How big? Most were above the 28- to 31-inch slot. That takes me back to the 1960s and 1970s when I fished those same jetties and a 5-pounder was a nice fish.

After the stripers, the black drum moved into the surf and Delaware Bay. Fenwick Island and 3R's Road were the first locations that had reports of the boomers, and most were caught on sand fleas. These were 25- to 35-pound fish and I am sure they gave up quite a fight from the beach.

Next, we had reports of black drum at Broadkill Beach with sand fleas and clams the best baits. Right after that, they were caught at the Coral Beds off Slaughter Beach where they have been caught for as long as I can remember. Clams have been the best bait here as well.

Next came the big bluefish. These were the big surprise. We have not seen big blues around here in quite a few years, and to have them show up this spring was a welcome addition to our fishing inventory.

At first, they showed up in the surf on cut mullet then in the inlet on metal lures. The real unexpected appearance was in the Broadkill River where blues to 13 pounds were caught as far up stream as Oyster Rocks Road. That fishery was so dependable that folks fished from shore with cut mullet and had good results. I am sure a few flounder fishermen in that area were not too pleased when one of those big blues jumped on their flounder baits.

Broadkill Beach became the place to fish when the ocean surf was too rough. All three big species were caught there including striped bass, black drum and bluefish. Several friends including Keith Kauffman and his family who fished close to the beach in 10 feet of water in their boat and found excellent black drum action on clams with four caught on one evening and five the next.

So, what is missing you may ask? How about northern kingfish, spot, weakfish, croaker, triggerfish and spadefish. They did catch two kings during the Cast for a Cure Surf-Fishing Tournament. That’s 26 four-person teams fishing for most of the day, so I can’t say the kings are in great supply as of yet. A few flounder have been caught out of the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal, but nowhere near as many as we should have.